


5 Times Elena Gilbert Spent the Night With Tyler Lockwood

by lit_chick08



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-05
Updated: 2012-04-05
Packaged: 2017-11-03 02:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lit_chick08/pseuds/lit_chick08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena has always loved a slumber party</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Times Elena Gilbert Spent the Night With Tyler Lockwood

**I. September 2nd-4th**

Elena was five-years-old the afternoon her mother came home with Tyler, a small overnight bag in her hands. She had spent the morning playing with Aunt Jenna, demonstrating what she learned at ballet class, while Jeremy watched _Little Bear_ on Nickelodeon. Elena loved when Aunt Jenna came over; she never limited how much TV they could watch and always slipped them extra chocolate milk.

“Tyler’s going to spend the night with us,” Miranda told her daughter, setting the bag on the steps as Tyler awkwardly looked around living room.

Elena was confused. Though she and Tyler played together all the time, it was always done at his house where his nanny could watch them while their parents spent time together. Tyler had never come to her house before, even for her birthday party.

She knew she didn’t have as many toys as Tyler did, and she definitely knew that he would not be interested in her dolls or kitchen set. Jeremy only had baby toys, and Elena was as embarrassed as a child could be that she did not have something for Tyler, who was unusually quiet.

When it was time for Jeremy to nap, Miranda laid out a blanket in the backyard for them to eat lunch on while she talked to Jenna in the kitchen. As Elena peeled the crusts off of her sandwich with an almost surgical precision, Tyler pulled up grass with grubby hands.

“How come we’re not playing at your house today?” she finally asked, taking a grape from his plate.

“My mommy had to go to the hospital.”

“Is she having the baby?”

Tyler shrugged, scooping up a handful of her potato chips. “I don’t know. Dad just told me I was staying with you.”

Elena frowned, disappointed he didn’t have more information. She was incredibly jealous Tyler was going to have a little sister while she only had a brother. For the last two years, she had been begging her parents for a little sister; she loved Jeremy but he never wanted to play dolls or watch _Beauty and the Beast_. And it struck her as unbelievably unfair Tyler didn’t even care about having a sister and got to get one. She had asked Aunt Jenna if maybe they could trade Jeremy for Tyler’s little sister but Jenna just laughed and told her not to get her hopes up.

They played outside until Grayson got home, coming in promptly at six as he did every night, tossing Jeremy into the air and gathering Elena tightly to his chest as he peppered her face with kisses as she giggled. Tyler watched the scene with surprise in his dark eyes and grinned when Grayson ruffled his hair and asked how he was. 

When they sat down to dinner at the table, Tyler bumped Elena’s glass of milk, sending the liquid in every direction. Immediately he leapt up, apologies spilling from his lips as he frantically tried to catch it in his hands. Elena didn’t understand why he was so upset about milk; she spilled hers all the time. She grabbed her napkin, pressing it to the table as Miranda fetched a towel, quickly assuring him it was okay. When Miranda gently wiped his hands, genuine awe filled Tyler’s face.

After dinner, Miranda filled the tub in the master bathroom, generously heaping bubbles and dumping the large collection of bath toys into the water. Elena climbed in first, gathering the bubbles in her hands and blowing them at Tyler, who was far more interested in the battleship. She was glad she got to take her bath with Tyler instead of Jeremy; Jeremy always complained the water was too hot and sometimes would pee in the tub.

Miranda let them stay in until their fingers were pruned and a fair amount of water was on the bathroom floor. After changing into their pajamas, Tyler got to go downstairs with Grayson while Miranda attempted to work out the knots in Elena’s fine, long hair. It was an arduous process, usually filled with tears, and Elena did not want Tyler to see her crying.

Grayson made them hot chocolate with a thick layer of marshmallow fluff on the top before putting on _Aladdin_. They were halfway through the movie when Miranda announced it was bedtime, and Elena begged to let Tyler sleep in her room with her, a plea Tyler echoed. Miranda agreed, tucking them both into Elena’s daybed, pressing kisses to their sweet-smelling foreheads.

In the dark, they faced each other just as they always did when they napped together. Elena tried hard not to squirm as she usually did after getting tucked in; Tyler fidgeted and gave her the teddy bear she always wrapped her arms around.

“I wish my mommy and daddy were like yours,” Tyler breathed against her face in a whisper.

The statement confused Elena; she assumed every mommy and daddy _was_ like hers.

“Sorry I don’t have boy toys.”

“It’s okay. Matt has boy toys but he’s not as much fun as you.”

Elena fell asleep with a smile on her face, secure in the knowledge she was Tyler’s best friend.

In the morning, Miranda sat them down and explained that Tyler’s little sister had gone to Heaven with the angels and he would need to stay with them for a few more nights. Elena cried for Tyler’s never-seen sister and suddenly realized it must be really lonely for Tyler to not have anyone to play with in his big house. Even if she didn’t always like Jeremy, she would always have him to keep her company.

“If you want, you can pretend _I’m_ your sister,” she offered that night as they faced each other in the dark.

Tyler didn’t say anything; he just squeezed her hand.

 

**II. July 3rd**

The summer Elena and Tyler were twelve, the Gilberts invited the Lockwoods to spend Fourth of July at their lake house. 

The lake house was Elena’s favorite place on earth. Every summer they spent as much as time there as possible, sometimes for weeks at a time with her father coming up on the weekends. Depending on who Kelly was dating at the moment, sometimes Matt and Vicki would come too, Matt and Jeremy fishing off of the dock while Vicki would rub baby oil into her skin and answer Elena’s questions about boys.

It was different with Tyler. Unlike Matt, he lacked the patience for fishing and had little interest in spending any time with her little brother. Instead he wanted to jump off of the rope swing Grayson had put in two summers earlier, contorting his body into crazy shapes as he’d fly through the air and crash into the water; sometimes he’d want to explore the trails around the house, shimmying up trees while Elena gathered berries in her shirt. Mostly Tyler wanted to do whatever it was that would take them as far away from their parents as possible.

Elena was sunning herself on the dock in the middle of the lake, her olive skin turning an even deeper shade of brown as the July sun beat overhead, when Tyler climbed up the ladder and plopped down beside her, flicking water onto her bare stomach.

“Stop it, Ty!” she squealed, slapping his hands away in irritation.

He laughed, shaking out the water from his hair as he poked her in the rib cage. “You’re too skinny.”

“I am not!” she objected as she sat up, glaring at him from behind her sunglasses. “Vicki said I look good.”

“And why would you listen to Vicki? Everyone knows she’s a slut.”

“Don’t talk about her like that! That’s Matt’s sister!”

Tyler shrugged, unaffected. “So? She hooked up with Jason Danes _and_ Mark Keller on Field Day. Miss Collins found her under the bleachers with her shirt off. What would you call it?”

“You know Vicki’s my friend.”

“Vicki’s only your friend because your mom and Kelly are friends.”

“So? _Our_ moms are friends and that’s not why _we’re_ friends.”

“No,” Tyler agreed, “we’re friends because I’m a helluva lot cooler than Caroline or Bonnie. And because I’m cooler than them, I have a plan for tonight.”

Elena was instantly suspicious. Tyler’s plans usually lead to a variety of trouble. “What kind of plan?”

“My cousin Kara let me borrow _Saw_. After everyone goes to bed tonight, we can sneak downstairs and watch it.”

“I’m not allowed to watch R movies.”

“C’mon, ‘Lena! Don’t punk out on me! You said you wanted to see it.”

“Yeah but…”

“But nothing! You know my mom will get trashed tonight during the barbecue, so she and my dad will go to bed early. And your parents always go to bed before eleven. So as long as we wait till Jeremy goes to sleep, we’ll be fine!”

She sighed, squirming for a moment before asking, “You _really_ think we’ll get away with it?”

“Of course. And if we get caught, I’ll take the blame,” he quickly assured her.

Elena nodded in resignation before halfheartedly shoving him.

Later that night, Elena was half asleep when Tyler shook her awake. Carefully tiptoeing down the stairs, years of sneaking downstairs for midnight snacks allowing Elena to miss the spots that creaked, they made it to the living room, Tyler popping in the DVD as Elena got comfortable on the couch.

It took everything Elena had not to scream, burying her face in Tyler’s shoulder at the more gruesome parts, her hands clutching his shirt as she whimpered and gasped. He kept telling her he could turn it off if it was too scary but Elena shook her head against his chest, hiding behind her hair as the death toll rose.

By the time the movie was over, Elena was more than a little queasy. It was after three by the time they made it upstairs and, as Tyler moved to go back to his room, Elena grasped his arm and shook her head.

“What?” he whispered.

“I’m scared,” she whispered back. 

“It was just a movie, ‘Lena.”

“Ty!” Pushing her lip out, mimicking the same look she gave her father when she wanted something he had refused her, she requested, “Can’t you just stay until I fall asleep?”

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Tyler followed her into her room, carefully closing the door as Elena turned on the box fan near the window to help with the oppressive heat. Burrowing into her pillows, she patted the mattress and Tyler tentatively climbed in beside her, a foreign look crossing his dark features.

“What’s wrong?” she murmured, noticing the careful distance he kept between them.

Tyler was lying on his back, his face half hidden in shadow, but Elena could make out the bright flush on his cheeks. “Nothing.”

She poked him in the shoulder with one finger. “What?”

“Nothing,” he repeated, turning his body away from her. “Go to sleep, ‘Lena.”

Elena sighed, subtly scooting across the mattress until she was only an inch away from Tyler’s back. She gently rested a hand on his shoulder blade and murmured, “Thank you for staying.”

In the morning, Grayson found them entangled on her bed, Elena half on top of Tyler, who had shed his t-shirt sometime in the night due to the heat. 

Later in the day, when Elena accompanied Miranda into town to pick up toilet paper, her mother patiently explained she and Tyler were too old to share a bed anymore.

**III. October 26th**

“What exactly are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Snow White,” Elena replied, holding up the apple in her hand for emphasis. “I thought I’d shake it up this year.”

“Is it really ‘shaking it up’ if Caroline is Sleeping Beauty and Bonnie is Pocahontas?”

Elena rolled her eyes, accepting a cup of punch from the juniors manning the refreshment table. “Says the guy wearing the same pirate costume he’s been wearing since _Pirates of the Caribbean_ came out.”

“This is a classic!” Tyler defended, removing the flask tucked into the waist of his cut off pants and unscrewing the top. He poured a liberal amount into his own cup before extending it towards Elena, who reluctantly nodded, already chilled from the combination of cold October breeze and short skirt.

“Classically _lame_ ,” she teased, taking a heavy swallow of her rum infused fruit punch. 

“Ladies love a pirate.”

Elena laughed, playfully tugging the plastic sword dangling from his belt loop. “Yeah, they’re _so_ irresistible.”

“Okay, I’m leaving now because you’re mean.” Bumping her with his hip as he walked by, Tyler disappeared into the throng as Elena crossed the grass to where Caroline was holding court, her pink mini-dress looking particularly scandalous in the light of the full moon.

Elena was in the middle of a conversation with Amber Bradley when someone came up behind her, wrapping an arm around her in almost a headlock position, dead weight heavy on her shoulders.

“Hey, Elena,” Andy Roth breathed into her ear, the stench of hops heavy on his breath.

Elena grimaced as the 220 pounds of lineman shifted, pressing painfully on her collarbone. “Hi, Andy. Can you move please?”

The grip didn’t loosen. “You look hot tonight.”

“Thanks. Seriously, Andy – “

Elena gasped as a heavy hand grabbed her thigh, sliding upward. “I mean, you look _so_ fuckable tonight – “

“Andy, stop it!” she ordered, trying to shake him off, watching as Amber’s eyes grew huge in her head.

Elena was preparing to scream when Andy suddenly released her. Spinning around, she saw Tyler and Matt on either side of him, anger on their faces as Andy stumbled backwards.

“What the fuck, man?!” Andy cried. “We were just playing around.”

“Yeah, well, she doesn’t fucking like it!” Tyler snapped, his body so coiled with tension it reminded Elena of a cobra before it struck. “Keep your goddamn hands to yourself!”

“Or what?” Andy challenged, so full of liquid courage he did not realize how plainly stupid his actions were.

“Or I’ll kill you,” Tyler growled, taking a step towards the larger boy. 

Matt stepped between the two, one of Andy’s friends pulling him backwards as Matt pushed on Tyler’s chest to keep him from advancing. Elena shook from the adrenaline in her system, her fight or flight response screaming at her to take action. She stepped forward, resting a gentle hand on Tyler’s shoulder, who jerked at the touch.

“Hey, it’s just me.”

Tyler turned, the tension slowly leaving his body as he looked at her. Elena was stunned when Tyler suddenly pulled her forward into an embrace, wrapping his arms around her so tightly she had no choice but to hug him back. She felt his heart beating rapidly against her chest, and she could barely resist the urge to stroke his back like a frightened child.

“You okay?” he finally asked as they separated.

Elena nodded before smiling weakly at the duo. “Yeah, thanks to you two. You guys should have been Batman and Robin.”

The incident was quickly forgotten - _well, except by Caroline who wanted every graphic detail_ \- but Elena couldn’t help but notice Tyler refused to move more than three feet away from her.

“What’s wrong?” she finally asked when she came out of the bathroom to find Tyler waiting.

The noise in the hallway was deafening, drowning out Tyler’s response. With an irritated huff, Elena grasped his wrist and tugged him into an empty classroom, repeating the question.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, pacing the length of the floor. “I mean, Andy’s always a douche but when I saw him touching you like that, ‘Lena, I swear to God, I could’ve killed him. I _wanted_ to kill him.”

“Ty – “

“And the _really_ fucked up part is I wasn’t pissed he was grabbing you. I was pissed he was grabbing what’s mine.”

“Yours?” she echoed, instantly bristling at the proprietary tone.

“Yes, mine! I mean – “ Catching himself, Tyler paused in front of her, more vulnerability on his face than Elena could remember seeing since they were kids. “You’re mine and I’m yours. You know that, right?”

Elena nodded, her head spinning. This was _not_ how she imagined this night ending up. “Right.”

It happened so quickly, it took Elena a moment to realize Tyler was kissing her, his large, warm hands cupping her face as he backed her up against the wall of Mr. Tanner’s classroom. His mouth was firm against hers, his tongue seeking entrance, and Elena gasped at the feel of his body tucked tightly against hers.

“I knew it,” Tyler panted against her throat, his tongue drawing a hot line along her jugular.

“What?” she rasped, grasping the back of his shirt.

“I knew you’d feel amazing.”

Elena preened under the compliment, drawing his mouth back down to hers. She had imagined this before – usually in the dark of her bedroom, under the covers, with music to drown out the sounds she’d make at her imaginings – but it had always had a dreamy quality. Elena had never _actually_ made out with a guy before; all she really knew she had cobbled together for Bonnie’s stories and Caroline’s bragging.

They had never told her how hot the boy’s skin would be, how it would scorch hers wherever he touched; they never mentioned how the boy would _growl_ as he nibbled on her collarbone or would push himself so firmly between her thighs it would instantly crystallize every whisper she’d ever heard about sex. No one had ever told her it would feel like she was melting from the inside out. She was wet between her thighs.

Not that she was considering having sex with Tyler Lockwood on Mr. Tanner’s desk during the Halloween party.

Well, not _seriously_ considering it.

Tyler rocked his knee between her thighs, getting caught up in the flimsy material of her costume. She tore her mouth away, about to tell him to be careful, when he impatiently pushed the fabric up, up, over her thighs and around her waist.

“Ty, wait” she whimpered as he nipped her ear, rolling her hips against the strong line of his thigh.

“Sorry,” he whispered, reluctantly drawing back. “You’re supposed to stay at Bonnie’s tonight, right?”

Elena nodded, smoothing down her skirt, trying to regain her bearings. 

“My parents are in Richmond for the night.”

He didn’t elaborate but, even without a lifetime’s worth of friendship, Elena could have discerned his meaning. This was not like the hundreds of other times he had invited her over while the Mayor and his wife were out of town; he wasn’t inviting her over to watch movies or swipe booze from the liquor cabinet. This was not her best friend inviting her over to his house to hang out.

This was a handsome boy who kissed her like the world was ending asking her to go home with him.

“The _whole_ night?”

Elena wasn’t certain but she could have sworn Tyler’s eyes flashed yellow for a millisecond. “They won’t be back until Sunday.”

The next hour was a blur. As Tyler found someone to drive them to his house, Elena made an excuse to Bonnie about why she was going to head home while simultaneously texting her mother to let her know she was leaving the party to go to Bonnie’s. By the time Tyler finally secured a ride, Elena was practically vibrating in nervous anticipation.

They had barely crossed the threshold before Elena was in his arms again, stumbling towards the stairs while attached at the lip, swallowing each other’s laughter.

Tyler’s room was the same as it always was, but Elena couldn’t help but feel as if it was someplace brand-new. She had spent as much time in his bedroom in the past 15 years as she had her own, but there was something vaguely intimidating now about his bed with its heavy wooden headboard and hunter green comforter.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured against her neck, walking her backwards until her knees connected with the mattress.

“Not too skinny?” she teased, remembering the criticism he had tossed at her a few summers earlier.

Tyler didn’t answer; instead, he reached around her body, finding the zipper in the back of her costume. Elena resisted the urge to twist away in embarrassment, especially when she felt his hands against her bare back. When his fingers found the clasp of her strapless bra, Elena stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” Tyler panted, his skin flushed as if he had run a marathon. “You don’t want to do this?”

“I-I don’t know.” Seeing the hurt flash across his face, she quickly said, “No, I mean, I want you and I want to keep doing… _something_ but I don’t – I’ve never had sex.”

She didn’t know why she said it; she knew Tyler knew this. But she also knew he had slept with Tina Fell in August and Morgan Chase in September, two hook-ups that had been gossiped about endlessly by the girls in Elena’s gym class.

“We don’t have to do it tonight,” Tyler quickly assured her, his hands gently kneading her back. “It’s cool.”

“Really? You don’t mind?”

“We’ve got time.”

Elena was certain this was the moment she fell in love with him. 

In retrospect, stripping each other of Halloween costumes was painfully funny, but at that moment, Elena was painfully aware of every inch of skin uncovered. By the time she was down to nothing but her panties and Tyler, his boxers, Elena was certain he was able to see the outline of her heart against her breastbone.

His body gave off heat like furnace, and she found it fascinating. She nudged him onto his back, carefully lying atop his body as she peppered kisses across his chest. Elena wasn’t sure when it happened but Tyler had turned into a _man_ , a man with a broad chest and muscular arms and a hardness that poked delightfully into the warmth between her legs.

“Christ!” he gritted out as her lips skimmed down his abs, her tongue ghosting across his hip bone, tasting the salt on his skin.

“What?” she immediately asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

Tyler exhaled a short bark of laughter as he shook his head, tugging her up his body. “No, it’s really, _really_ good, ‘Lena. You feel…”

“What?” she murmured, touching his face tenderly. “How do I feel?”

“Like you’re mine,” he teased, rolling her onto her back, making her giggle. His lips wetly sliding down her throat to her breasts, tongue lightly flicking her nipple, he whispered, “Are you mine, Elena? Are you my girl?”

She nodded breathlessly, arching her back in silent request for more. 

“Say it,” he requested, his hand slipping into her tiny, polka-dotted panties, his fingertips brushing the neediest part of her.

“I’m yours,” Elena blurted out, her voice half an octave higher as one long, thick finger gently nudged its way inside of her body. 

Tyler carefully eased his finger out before carefully pushing back in, his thumb flicking her clit with increasing pressure. “Say it again.” 

“I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours,” she chanted as the pleasure built, twisting her hips in need, her hands trying to draw Tyler down to her mouth.

She came with a sharp cry, her body quivering as the pleasure crashed in waves through her body. It felt different from the orgasms she had given herself, from her awkward fumbling beneath the sheets; this orgasm seemed to go on forever, complete with tiny aftershocks as Tyler continued to stroke her soaked flesh as she came back down to earth.

Elena tiredly lifted her arms, wrapping them around Tyler’s neck and tugging him down. “Kiss me.”

Their kisses were lazy, tongue tangling affairs that only seemed to extend Elena’s afterglow. They had been kissing for several minutes before Elena managed to gather up her courage and slide her hand inside Tyler’s severely tented boxers.

His surprisingly soft skin was hottest here, stretched tightly over the part of him that wanted her so badly. He shuddered as she encircled his erection, unsure how much pressure to use or how tightly to hold him. She pumped once experimentally and couldn’t help but smile when he groaned her name, heat streaking through her.

Tyler reached down, pushing his boxers down his legs, freeing himself for her perusal. For a few minutes Tyler allowed her to explore, her fingers dancing lightly over him. Finally, he groaned, taking her hand in his and adjusting her grip.

“Like this,” he instructed, tightening her grasp and showing her the correct speed.

Elena had always been a quick learner, and this was no different. Tyler’s hips churned beneath her hand, and Elena couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have this part of him inside of her, to be with him like that. And then Elena realized she didn’t _have_ to wonder; whenever she wanted to find out, all she’d have to do was tell him.

Elena had never felt so powerful in her life.

“Are you mine?” she asked as the rise and fall of her hand increased in speed, her own breathing quickening to match his.

“Always been yours,” he gasped, thrusting his hips up, desperate for more. “Always you and me, ‘Lena.”

He came in a rush, half of a shouted warning escaping his lips before exploding, his pleasure sticky on her hands and stomach. As he drew breaths through clenched teeth as he calmed, Elena reached for the Kleenex on his bedside table, carefully cleaning both of them of his spendings.

“Come here,” Tyler requested, tugging her against his chest. Elena went easily into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder as he pulled the comforter up around their overheated bodies.

They were dozing, the room awash in moonlight and quiet except for their steady breathing, when Elena murmured, “The moon’s so pretty.” 

Tyler lightly stroked her back. “It’s the full moon tonight. All the crazies are out.”

“Good thing we’re in here then,” she countered, pressing a kiss to his chest.

 

**IV. September 25th**

Elena was in the middle of a conversation with Damon, Stefan, and Alaric when the sound of breaking dishes interrupted them. Like the rest of the patrons in the Grill, Elena turned to see Tyler – clearly inebriated – standing beside a now furious busboy, who was gathering up the shards of glass now covering the floor. Matt and a few other guys from the football team were attempting to wrestle the car keys from Tyler’s death grip to no avail.

“I’m fine!” Tyler declared, pushing one of the guys away from him as he stumbled towards the tables. 

“Ty, man, calm down,” Matt encouraged, his voice the same even tone Elena recognized from when he had to wrangle Kelly and Vicki. “No one’s saying you aren’t fine.”

“This isn’t going to end well,” Damon declared, throwing back his bourbon. “Anyone want to take bets on which one he kills to seal the deal?”

“Shut up!” Elena snapped, the hatred for what he did to Jeremy still burning sharply in her chest, hatred only compounded by his admission he had not seen the ring on her brother’s finger. “Tyler’s our friend.”

“Since when?”

“Ty, just let me drive you,” Matt insisted as he followed two steps behind Tyler, who was swaying back and forth between the tables. “You don’t want anyone to call the Sheriff, right?”

“No one’s going to call the Sheriff. I’ve got the ‘get out of jail free’ card because my dad’s dead.” Tyler chuckled mirthlessly. “That’s what it’s called, right, ‘Lena?”

“Dude!” Matt exclaimed as Stefan stiffened beside her, Damon and Alaric both looking as if they wanted to punch Tyler for his comment.

Elena knew instantly what Tyler was referring to; despite how drunk she had been that night, she recalled the conversation perfectly.

“I got drunk in your living room and threw up in a vase; I didn’t trash the Grill,” she pointed out, slipping off of her stool, hand extended. “Keys.”

“’Lena – “

“Ty.”

He sighed in irritation but pressed the key ring into her palm, startling her when he semi-collapsed onto her shoulder, his forehead pressed against the skin of her shoulder. Elena almost buckled under the weight, Stefan’s hand at the small of her back keeping her upright.

“My dad’s dead,” he whimpered against her collarbone, sounding very much like he had when they were ten and his grandfather had died.

“Why don’t I drive you home, man?” Matt offered, casting a glance at Stefan, who got to his feet to help him carry Tyler to the car.

“I don’t want to go home. Everyone sucks at home.” Tyler’s hands clutched at the back of Elena’s tank top, holding it as if he expected Matt to pull him away. “Don’t make me go home.”

“I’m sure Matt wouldn’t mind if you stay at his house,” Stefan suggested, his eyes flicking towards Matt who nodded easily.

 

“Can I stay at your house?” Tyler asked, lifting his head to look into Elena’s eyes. When she didn’t answer immediately, he rested his forehead against her temple, his lips brushing her skin as he implored, “Be my best friend tonight, ‘Lena.”

She hadn’t been his best friend in a long time. After their relationship had fallen apart at the end of freshman year, they had barely spoken the entire summer, a habit that continued once she and Matt started dating at the beginning of sophomore year. Beyond Founders’ events and group outings, the only real, prolonged time they had spent together in the past two years was after Miranda and Grayson died. She had been depressed and so tired of having everyone monitor how she was doing and judging her for not behaving as they thought she should; one night Elena called him and declared she wanted to get stark raving drunk. By the end of the night, she had ruined an antique vase and wept for three hours straight on his shoulder.

When she thanked him the following morning, he had shrugged it off, simply stating it was what best friends did.

“If you throw up in Jenna’s vase, she’ll kill you,” Elena warned, urging him to stand up.

“He can’t stay with you,” Damon immediately objected.

Tyler cast as withering a glare as he could manage given his eyes could not focus. “Who the fuck are you, man?”

Elena and Stefan quickly moved Tyler out of the Grill while Alaric attempted to calm a clearly irritated Damon. After loading Tyler into the backseat of Elena’s car, Stefan turned towards her, gently stroking her arm.

“You sure you can handle this? I can come with you.”

Elena nodded with a reassuring smile. “It’s just Tyler.”

Lowering his voice, Stefan reminded her, “You know what Isobel’s research said, and we know what Mason is. I know you think Tyler is your friend – “

“Tyler _is_ my friend,” Elena cut in fiercely.

“But you still need to be careful,” Stefan finished. “You don’t know what he’s capable of doing, especially when he’s drunk.”

“I’ll be fine.” Pressing a kiss to his cheek, Elena promised, “I’ll call you later.”

They were only half a block from the Grill when Tyler declared, “I really hate that you’re with him.”

Elena said nothing, certain she didn’t want to have this conversation, even more certain she didn’t want to have it while he was drunk.

Jenna and Jeremy were both shocked at the sight of a drunken Tyler Lockwood stumbling through the front door but quickly helped Elena make up the couch for him, Jenna placing a bucket in convenient reach. Within fifteen minutes of hitting the couch, Tyler was unconscious and Elena was calling Carol Lockwood to let her know where he was.

After making sure to place a bottle of water beside the couch, Elena went upstairs to bed. She wasn’t sure how long she was asleep before she felt the depression of the mattress; rubbing at her eyes, Elena was stunned to see Tyler in nothing but his boxers slipping beneath her covers.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, genuine shock in her voice.

“I don’t like the couch,” he answered matter-of-factly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, his words markedly less slurred. 

“And you’re in your underwear because…?”

“I got hot.” Opening his eyes so he could look at her, Tyler smirked. “I’m not going to molest you, Elena.”

“You can’t be here like this. I have a boyfriend, Ty. Underwear sleepovers aren’t allowed.”

“We’ve been having underwear sleepovers since before we were even old enough to wear underwear,” he argued, his eyes drifting closed again. “That has to change because Stefan Salvatore exists?”

“You know why things changed,” she gritted out, hating how he was forcing this conversation. 

The ensuing silence was so long Elena was convinced he had fallen back asleep when suddenly he announced, “I broke up with you because my father said I wasn’t good enough for you.”

“What?”

“You remember when we got busted hopping the Fells’ fence to go skinny dipping? Well, my dad was so pissed, told me I was just like Mason, which was Richard Lockwood for ‘you’re a useless disappointment to this family.’ And then he said, ‘And now you’re dragging poor Elena down to your level.’” Tyler scoffed. “I think he loved you more than he loved me.”

Elena felt tears rising in her throat at the naked pain in his voice. “Tyler – “

“Know what he said when you showed up to the Founders’ party with Salvatore the first time? ‘Now _that’s_ the kind of guy Elena Gilbert should be with.’ What kind of dad says that? What kind of _person_?”

“Tyler – “

“Maybe he was right. I’m just like Mason.”

“You’re nothing like Mason,” Elena argued, unable to stop herself from touching his furrowed brow. “You’re not a disappointment, Ty, and you didn’t bring me down. That’s just ridiculous.”

Rolling onto his back, now staring at the ceiling, he spat, “No, it’s worse. I’m like _him_. I’m an asshole, Elena. I fucked over Vicki, I sucker punched Jer, I made out with Matt’s mom! That’s the guy I am!”

Propping herself up on her elbow, Elena insisted, “No, it’s not. Look, I know we aren’t…that we aren’t as close as we used to be but I _know_ you, Ty, and you’re not like your dad. You made some shitty choices; we’ve all done it.”

“You don’t.”

“Are you kidding? I make terrible choices all the time. I just hide them better.” Playfully shoving his shoulder, she teased, “If you weren’t so damn popular, no one would ever know.”

A begrudging chuckle escaped his lips. “I really miss you, ‘Lena.”

Elena laid her hand on his chest, his heart beating a steady tattoo against her palm. “I’m right here, Ty. I’m always right here.”

Tyler reached up, covering her hand with his own, comforted by her nearness; they fell asleep like that, bodies entangled.

When Elena woke up, he was already gone, the leftover scent of cologne and whiskey the only signs he had ever been there.

 

**V. April 16th**

“How many of these things do you think we’ve been to?” 

Elena smiled as she turned, her glass of wine firmly in hand. “Well, at 300 a year since we were ten…that’s fifteen years…Approximately 45,000.”

Tyler grinned, wrapping his arms tightly around her before pulling back. “I didn’t know you were coming home for this.”

“It just so happened this coincides with my newborn cousin’s baptism. I figured if I was going to be here, why not come?” Elena gestured to the black dress she wore with a sweep of her hand. “It’s an all purpose dress.”

“You look beautiful in it.”

“Very smooth, Mr. Lockwood. And why are _you_ here? Last I heard, you were happily living it up in Atlanta.”

“Mom asked me to come.”

She couldn’t help but giggle at the embarrassed flush which filled his cheeks. “I almost forgot how much of a mama’s boy you are.”

Mock-glaring at her, he reached out and took her wine glass, taking a heavy swallow before giving it back. “I got an invitation to Jeremy and Bonnie’s wedding the other day.”

Elena nodded, smiling and waving at old friends of her parents before admitting, “I can’t wait until the wedding is finally over. If I get one more call about my opinion on flowers or seating charts, I might lose it. Thank God Caroline’s helping her now or it would have gotten messy.”

“I thought Caroline was in Rome with Stefan.”

“She is,” Elena confirmed as they navigated their way through the crowd, tucking themselves into the same corner of Founders’ Hall they had used to escape when they were twelve. “They’re coming stateside a month before the actual wedding so Caroline can work her manic magic.”

“And Damon?” he asked, unable to keep the distasteful expression from his face.

“The last time we spoke he was in Australia. Bonnie refused to invite him but we have a pool going about whether or not he’ll show up anyway.”

“He never was very smart.” They sat in companionable silence for a beat before Tyler ventured, “Jeremy mentioned you were thinking about moving back.”

Elena shrugged. “Cost of living in Boston is ridiculously high and I’m mostly doing freelance pieces anyway. Mystic Falls is as good a place to write as any. And it’s been seven years since anyone’s tried to kill me here so that seems like a nice cushion.”

“Sometimes I wonder if our criteria for happy lives are different from other people’s.”

“Well…we _did_ escape being human sacrifices in a millennia old ritual being performed by the world’s oldest vampire, so I’d say we probably don’t qualify as normal people.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Tyler laughed before reaching out to touch the vervain locket around her neck. “You still wear it.”

Her smile faded as Elena admitted, “Just because it’s been seven years doesn’t mean I can let my guard down.” As he nodded in understanding, she asked, “How are the transformations now?”

“Less painful but still…I’ll never get used to it entirely.”

“But you’re good in Atlanta? You like your job and have friends and a girlfriend?”

“Atlanta is a great city. The design work is great; I just got an offer from a comic book company wanting to know if I’d be interested in doing some artwork for them. I have some good friends but no girlfriend. Apparently I’m secretive and have intimacy issues.”

“Really? I’m emotionally unavailable and frigid.”

“There are many words I’d use to describe you, ‘Lena, but frigid was never one of them.”

The air suddenly thick with tension, Elena couldn’t help but lean forward, pressing her lips against the corner of his mouth. Tyler quickly turned his head, deepening the kiss, one hand sliding around to cup the nape of her neck, his other stroking her knee. Elena moaned into his mouth, her tongue flitting out briefly to tease before pulling back, breathless.

“I have a hotel room.”

“My car’s out front,” Tyler said in response, pushing off of the lounge and pulling Elena to her feet.

They hurried through the crowd, their hands clasped tightly; Elena slid into the passenger’s seat of his car, smiling at the way he fumbled his keys into the ignition. It had been ten years since Elena had been with Tyler this way; she couldn’t help but wonder why she was more nervous now than she had been when she was fifteen.

He took her against the door of her hotel room, her legs hoisted around his waist, panties torn, skirt gathered around her waist; Elena tore at his shirt, buttons flying in different directions, desperate to feel his skin against hers. The familiar stretch of her body to accommodate him made Elena whine, their coupling fast and desperate.

“Fuck, ‘Lena!” he cried, shuddering in pleasure as she clenched around him, her teeth nipping at his ear, her own moans echoing in the silence of the room as they peaked and came back to earth.

“Bed now,” she murmured as her legs slid down to the ground, hissing at the pressure on sensitive tissue. 

Elena shed her dress as Tyler finished undressing, sliding into the bed beside her. Immediately she curled herself around his body, her fingers tracing the familiar lines of his body before reaching the shiny, raised scar Klaus’s dagger left behind. As if on cue, Tyler found the scar which matched his own on her lower abdomen, caressing the wound which had almost killed her.

“We never did it against a door before,” Elena sleepily pointed out.

“To be fair, we were fifteen. My main focus was making sure I didn’t come the second you touched me.”

She chuckled against his chest, pressing a kiss to the patch of skin in front of her lips. “The night of the ritual, when we were dying, you held my hand. Even when we thought there was no way we’d make it out alive, you held my hand.”

“Didn’t want you to think you were alone.”

Elena squeezed him tightly, nuzzling at his throat. “God, I miss you, Ty.”

“You don’t _have_ to, you know.”

“I know I should call more – “

“No, I meant…” Taking a deep breath, carefully stroking her hair, he ventured, “You could write in Atlanta. I mean, I’ve got a big apartment and there’s a hell of lot more to do there than in Mystic Falls.”

Turning so she could meet his gaze, she struggled for a moment to decipher his meaning. “Are you asking me to move in with you?” 

A light blush filled his cheeks but Tyler slowly nodded. “We’re good together, ‘Lena; we always were. And everything’s calm now, and there’s no exes to make things complicated. We could…We could really give it a go if you want.”

“That’s what you want?”

With a dry laugh, he confessed, “That’s what I’ve wanted since we were eleven-years-old.”

Elena craned her neck, pressing a kiss to the hinge of his jaw before resting her head against his broad chest. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

Tyler nodded, tugging the blankets up around their bodies before planting a kiss on the top of her head.

Everything would be clearer in the morning.


End file.
